Age
45
Education
BA International Relations, Oglethorpe University; Masters in Public Affairs, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
Work experience
Former Executive Director of 501C3, Rise and Shine Tennessee
Phone Number
787-518-6007
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Age
61
Education
Agricultural Science University College Dublin Ireland
Work experience
8 Years Elected Service (Mayor Culver City Ca), Hospitality Business Owner, Multiple Commissions and Committees, Delegate No Labels
Phone Number
(731) 216-7260
This district is new, seventeen counties stitched together in May, and I believe it was drawn partly to cause confusion. It has. Nobody can honestly say yet what issues run through all seventeen counties, so the first challenge is just understanding it properly, quantifying what this district actually needs instead of guessing. Second, the economy has burdened the whole district and people feel it. Third, representation itself: too many officials answer to party whips instead of the people who elected them. When elected, the only people I answer to are the people of this district.
I'll build a network of representatives in all 17 counties who bring issues straight to me, so I know what's going on at any given moment. I'll put my calendar online, public, so people know exactly who I'm meeting with and why. Right now lobbyists know who the party whip is meeting with and nobody else does. That's backwards. I won't be beholden to a whip, I'm beholden to the people who elected me. As an independent I can go to Tennessee's other eight representatives directly, Republican or Democrat, and ask them to set party aside when it's a Tennessee issue.
The big driver is a war Congress never approved. It's hit this agricultural district hard: gas, diesel, fertilizer prices all up because of it. Tariffs on top of that, with unintended consequences nobody in Washington wants to talk about. People feel it every time they're at the grocery store. Our reps see it too. They just know that speaking up gets you attacked by your own party for not toeing the line. I'll say what I see. I don't need a whip's permission to say it.
Our system is broken. We educate everyone for the same handful of best-paying jobs and hope the rest sort themselves out.Most kids won't land at the top, and they know it by high school. Curriculum should be built around all employment, not just the high-earning tracks. Every kid deserves a path forward, not a ranking against classmates. I'll fight for a system that trains people for the jobs that actually exist.
The jury is still out on data centers, and I won't pretend otherwise. Until Congress has accurate information on the real tradeoffs. Expansion should be curtailed, not waved through. Water is God-given and too valuable to life to risk on a mistake we can't undo.
